Sir John van Ee: The story of a magical womaniser
by ACreatureCalledLust
Summary: A young, rich and arrogant wizard visits Hogsmeade in his travels to get a taste of the local women. All those in his path are misled and abused, until there is one ghost of his past he cannot escape.
1. Scene I: The failed seduction

Dusk was falling on a pleasant spring evening in Hogsmeade. Passing by the village's little thatched cottages and shops, pairs of festively dressed students made their way from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade castle; the boys dressed smartly in black dress robes with white, buttoned-down shirts underneath, and the girls wearing elegant bare-shouldered dresses with large skirts in every colour imaginable. Some eagerly and some awkwardly, the students walked arm in arm and made conversation about the ball they would soon arrive at. This year's repetition of the earlier successful Yule Ball was a ball masqué, only to be attended by students in the fourth year and above. Hogsmeade's Gladrags Wizardwear had done good business in the past few weeks, selling exuberant masks with still-fluttering feathers, glitter that unexpectedly burst into flames and special dress-off-features for large noses.

The colourful trail of students led to Hogsmeade castle, a sturdy building sitting on a small hill to the east of the village. From its opened entrance doors, the yellow flickering light of candles and fires spilled outside, accompanied by chatter and laughter and Spellbound Symphonic's dancing music. All were drawn inside by this liveliness and warmth. All, except for one young man on the terrace at the backside of castle. In the falling darkness, he leaned on a bartable, pussing the olive in his glass of Charmtini around.

"Day and night," he muttered to himself, "day and night long I get to do his dirty jobs. I'm standing outside here waiting, while he is inside trying to pick up a girl. And I'm sure he will find a pretty one quickly, with his fancy-looking four-hundred-Galleon dress robes and his _aristocratic_ _features_."

The man tried to straigthen a crease in his own worn-down dress robes, and swallowed a large gulp of his Charmtini. "And then of course I, Leo Prello, have to make sure that he can get her home to the hotel where we are staying without any problems. Husbands, boyfriends, fathers... always so many men to take care of. I wonder if he'll pick a single girl this time."

Leo's musings were interrupted by the sound of the backdoor of the castle opening. He quickly drained the the remaining Charmtini in his glass and disappeared into the darkness under a group of trees. Indeed, the man coming out of the door was the one he had been thinking about: Sir John Van Ee. Sir John was a tall man with dark hair and large green mischievous eyes, or rather, a boy. With him was a slender, red-haired girl in a green dress. Under her glittering mask, her small lips were speaking buoyantly:

"With all these travels, I can't imagine you've never been in Hogsmeade before! I mean, it's the only all-wizarding town in Britain! But then, you're not British of course." The girl smiled and took a liberal sip from her drink. "So, what did you want to show me here again?" Expectantly, her eyes glittered in the last remaining light.

"I wanted to see how beautifully the moon illuminates your fair skin," Sir John said, raising his hand and trailing his fingers over the part of the girl's cheek uncovered by her mask. The girl abruptly stepped backwards.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Didn't you see I have a boyfriend? Who are you, anyway? You're not a student."

"What does it matter?" Sir John said playfully. "All that matters is that we are here together and that you look fantastic in this dress." He stepped closer to the girl and placed his hand on her waist.

"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed. "Tell me who you are right now. Take off your mask so I can see you!"

"Now now, no need to be so pious," Sir John said, placing his hand in her neck and moving in closer to kiss her. With one arm the girl aggressively shoved his hand from her neck and with the other she reached for his mask, trying to pull it off. Sir John grabbed both her wrists and spoke more soothing words, but they drowned in the girl's yelling:

"LET ME GO!"


	2. Scene I: The duel

"LET ME GO!"

At this, another person stepped out onto terrace. "Ginny!" he yelled out.

She turned her head. "Neville!"

Neville drew his wand and pointed it at Sir John, trembling with anger. "Let her go and defend yourself!"

Sir John released the tight grip on Ginny's wrists to pull out his wand, at which Ginny pulled herself loose and ran inside the castle to get Harry.

"A duel?" Sir John said mockingly. "I suggest you leave right now, or you will get hurt."

"I'm not a coward!" Neville exclaimed. "You were assaulting Ginny, I will not let you go!"

"I'm warning you..." Sir John said.

"EXPELLIAR-" Neville started, but Sir John interrupted him: "PROTEGO!"

With immense force, Neville was launched backwards, against the stone wall of the castle. His head hit a massive protruding rock, after which his body fell to the ground. It collapsed in an akward position and remained there, motionless.

"Foolish boy," Sir John said, looking at the blood trickling out of the boy's head, slowly forming a dark puddle on the terrace floor. "Now you are dead and I have a murder on my hands. You tricked me into a duel."

Leo stepped out of his place in the darkness. "You are going to regret this. You killed a boy who came to the aid of a girl you were trying to get into bed."

"It was the boy who insisted on fighting," objected Sir John.

"And did the girl also insist on getting into bed with you?" asked Leo, scornfully.

"Be silent!" Sir John bit at Leo. "Or do you also insist upon fighting?"

"Oh no, of course not! Excuse me, I should not have said a thing" Leo replied quickly.

"That's what I thought," said Sir John. "Now let us leave quickly."

The two men disappeared into the darkness.


	3. Scene I: The oath

With Harry behind her, Ginny stormed to the back door of the castle, breathlessly recounting the previous events.

"He tried to kiss me and when I didn't want to he grabbed me and I yelled, and then Neville came! He threatened to duel, we have to help him!" Ginny swung open the door to the terrace and looked around wildly. "Where are they?" The masked man was gone, and the place where Neville had just stood empty.

"Oh dear Merlin!" she then called out, seeing Neville's collapsed figure against the castle wall. She ran towards him and fell down on her knees beside him.

"He's bleeding Harry!" She grabbed his face with her hands. "Neville, Neville, look at me! Open your eyes!" Neville's head lay limply in her hands, moving dully only with her movements. The looking holes in his mask showed his pale, closed eyelids.

"I don't think he's breathing..." Ginny said in a hoarse whisper. Removing one hand from Neville's head, she grabbed her wand out of her skirt, smearing the green fabric with blood. Frantically she began muttering healing spells.

Horror-stricken, Harry knelt down beside Ginny. He grabbed Neville's wrist, trying to feel for a pulse. He felt the violent beating of his own heart pumping blood through his fingertips – or was that Neville's pulse? Closing his eyes firmly in concentration, he focused on Neville's wrist. Desperately, he tried to discern a pulse different from the one he felt bouncing in his chest, but he couldn't. The wrist began to feel cold.

"Ginny, I... I think he's dead," Harry said, turning his head away from Neville towards Ginny in disbelief.

"No!" Ginny yelled out, still looking at Nevilly intently and shaking her head violently, "no, he can't be!" In a hoarse voice she continued to try spells even faster, but the incantations turned into sobs. "He can't be! Oh by Merlin, it's my fault! He came to rescue me!"

"Ginny, it's not your -"

"I should never have gone outside with that horrible man! What was I thinking, that assaulter, that murderer!" Ginny's wand dropped from her hand and rolled away as she let herself fall upon Neville's chest and began to cry. "I let my best friend die because I had to chat with some good-looking stranger. My best friend!"

Harry swallowed at the 'good-looking stranger' part, but then carefully lifted Ginny up from Neville's body and enclosed her shaking body in his arms. Gently, he stroked her wet cheek as she sobbed against his chest. A tear fell down his own face as he bent down his head and spoke to Ginny softly.

"I'll be your best friend. I'll take care of you. I... I'll always love you Ginny."

At this, Ginny lifted her head from Harry's chest and faced him with an intense look, her green eyes contrasting starkly with the smeared black make-up around it. "Then swear that we will find Neville's killer and make him pay for the blood that he has shed."

As Harry opened his mouth to answer, footsteps and exclamations of shock sounded from people coming from the castle and seeing Harry and Ginny sitting in a pool of blood next to a motionless Neville.

"I swear," Harry said.


End file.
